De Clérambault’s syndrome
David Enoch, Basant K. Puri, Hadrian Ball in Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes, 2020
From its inception, the term “erotomania” suffered from a lack of precise definition. For example, in the eighteenth-century medical lexicon erotomanics were defined as “those who engage in the furious pursuit of vagrant and illicit lust” (Rather, 1965). The terms “nymphomania” or, in the case of men, “satyriasis” more accurately describe these states. Esquirol (1772–1840) made this distinction between erotomania and nymphomania: “In the latter evil originates in the organs of reproduction, the irritation of which reacts upon the brain. In erotomania the sentiment which characterises it is in the head … The subjects of erotomania never pass the limits of propriety, they remain chaste!”
Dyspareunia and other psychosexual problems
David M. Luesley, Mark D. Kilby in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 2016
There have been cases of persistent sexual arousal syndrome, where women with no conscious desire for sexual expression are overwhelmed by continual sensations in the genitals. This is differentiated from hypersexuality, a syndrome which does involve a high level of desire for sexual activity. Little is known about these disorders, but psychological/cognitive-behavioural treatment does seem to confer some benefit.8
The menopause
Michael J. O’Dowd in The History of Medications for Women, 2020
The Scottish Gentlemen’s tenuous notion of ‘uterine furor’ or ‘uterine fury’ and it’s relationship to menopausal women had it’s origin in Greco-Roman medicine. Soranus of Ephesus of the early second century AD defined uterine fury as satyriasis, a condition of overpowering sexual desire that could occur in men or women (Temkin, 1956).
What’s in a Name? A Phenomenological Exploration of Hypersexuality Narratives
Published in International Journal of Sexual Health, 2022
Natasha Knack, Dave Holmes, Chad Hammond, J. Paul Fedoroff
While hypersexuality is often used to describe any sexual thoughts or behaviors deemed excessive or difficult to control, Hypersexual Disorder refers to a formal diagnosis, characterized by “typically a normophilic (but sometimes paraphilic) response in which normal sexual interest and behavior are exaggerated, ritualized, or disinhibited” (Walters et al., 2011, p. 1310); this diagnosis was proposed but ultimately rejected for inclusion in the DSM-5. Kafka’s (2010) proposed diagnostic criteria for Hypersexual Disorder have been criticized as being over-inclusive, which may cause normal variations in sexual behavior to be misdiagnosed as sexual disorders (Samenow, 2011). Moser (2011) argued that a lack of empirical evidence exists to support Hypersexual Disorder as a distinct psychiatric disorder and suggested that the symptoms associated with this proposed disorder may be better explained by other pathologies. He noted that, “If the nosology of mental disorders is to be useful, a symptom of another disorder should not be identified as its own disorder” (Moser, 2013, p. 52). See Appendix A in supplemental materials for Kafka’s proposed criteria and Moser’s related criticisms.
The de Clérambault syndrome: more than just a delusional disorder?
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2020
Gaia Sampogna, Francesca Zinno, Vincenzo Giallonardo, Mario Luciano, Valeria Del Vecchio, Andrea Fiorillo
The ancient descriptions of erotomania syndrome can be found in the works by Hippocrates, Plutarch, and Galen. In the sixteenth century, the French physician Bartholomy Pardoux (1545–1611) in the book ‘Disease of the Mind’ differentiated between ‘insane love’ (erotomania) and ‘uterine furors’ (nymphomania). In 1623, Jacques Ferrand described clinical cases of patients affected by ‘maladie d’amour’ or ‘melancholie erotique’. In the early eighteenth century, erotomania was described as a general disease caused by unrequited love, while subsequently it was considered an excessive physical love (defined as nymphomania or satyriasis). Esquirol (1838) defined erotomania as a chronic mental disorder (namely ‘monomania’) characterised by an excessive love for an object, either known or imaginary. At that time, erotomania was conceptualised as a form of ‘partial madness’, being a disease of the imagination accompanied by an error of judgement. In 1921, Kraepelin coined the term ‘paranoic megalomania’, emphasising the delusional component of erotomania.
The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) 2020 guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of paraphilic disorders
Published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2020
Florence Thibaut, Paul Cosyns, John Paul Fedoroff, Peer Briken, Kris Goethals, John M. W. Bradford
The beginning of treatment of the paraphilias can be traced back to the late nineteenth century, though not directly connected to the new concept of sexual deviance as a medical condition. This initial treatment approach was that of surgical castration, used first for therapeutic purposes in 1892 in Switzerland to treat a patient with ‘imbecility’ who reported neuralgic pain of the testes and ‘hypersexuality’ (Sturup 1972). Sturup (1972) reported that castration had been described in Greek mythology, in the practice of auto-castration for religious reasons by the scoptics during early Christianity, its judicial use for sex crimes, and as a method to create eunuchs in eastern harems as well as to produce male operatic sopranos in Italian boys up till the eighteenth century. During the twentieth century, surgical castration for some sex offenders was used not only in the USA but in certain European countries including Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands as well as in Germany and Switzerland (Bremer 1959; Langeluddeke 1963; Sturup 1972; Cornu 1973; Heim and Hursch 1979; Ortmann 1980; Heim 1981; Wille and Beier 1989). Patients in these European studies varied in diagnosis and type of sex offence but surgical castration resulted in a marked reduction in reported sex offence recidivism.
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